Volume 7/Issue 27

Governor-Elect Murphy Names Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti to Head the NJ DOT

Catherine McCabe Announced as New DEP Commissioner for Murphy Administration

Assemblywoman Marlene Caride To Serve as the Next Banking & Insurance Commissioner

Governor-Elect Murphy Names Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti to Head the NJ DOT

Governor-Elect Phil Murphy announced this week that he will nominate Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti to be Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Ms. Scaccetti worked at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority for 21 years, ascending to the highest staff position at the agency, the Executive Director. She retired from that position in 2010 and subsequently served in a similar role at the Florida Turnpike Enterprise from 2011 to the present day.

The Governor-Elect laid out a broad agenda for the new commissioner to tackle. “We need Diane’s leadership to ensure we are building strong, new connections between our communities, not just putting down more band-aids. We will need her to work alongside our partners at the Port Authority, our friends in New York and Pennsylvania, and our federal government.” He went on to say, “And, we need her to take hold of the national disgrace that is NJ Transit, turn it upside down, and shake it up, so that we can make it right again.”

Catherine McCabe Announced as New DEP Commissioner for Murphy Administration

Focusing his Administration’s policies on the need to effectively deal with climate change, the Governor-Elect named Catherine McCabe to serve as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday.

Ms. McCabe served as Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in the federal Environmental Protection Agency, as a judge on the EPA's Court of Appeals, and as both deputy and acting regional administrator of EPA's Region 2. In early 2017, she was named acting administrator of the EPA itself for an interim period. Prior to joining the EPA in 2005, Ms. McCabe spent 22 years working on environmental issues at the United States Department of Justice, and was named Deputy Chief of the Environmental Enforcement Section in 2001.

Governor-Elect Murphy said he will look to McCabe to help develop a new Energy Master Plan for the state that would put New Jersey on the path to 100 percent clean energy reliance by 2050, combined with achievable short-term goals.

Assemblywoman Marlene Caride To Serve as the Next Banking & Insurance Commissioner

Governor-Elect Murphy also asked Bergen County Assemblywoman Marlene Caride to lead the State Department of Banking & Insurance. The Assemblywoman’s nomination represents another historic milestone, as she would be the first Latina to serve in the position.

The incoming Commissioner will help to create a public bank for the State. “I will also ask Marlene to help me in the effort to establish a public bank for New Jersey –to bring home the billions of taxpayer dollars we currently invest in foreign banks and short-term corporate paper in companies that don’t reinvest in us – so that we can invest in our communities, our small businesses, and our college students,” said the Governor-Elect.

Assemblywoman Caride has served in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2012. She is the Chairwoman of the Education Committee and is a member of both the Appropriations and Financial Institutions/Insurance Committees. The Assemblywoman is a partner in the firm of Gonzalez & Caride and she is the municipal prosecutor in her hometown of Ridgefield.

The Assemblywoman’s ascension to Commissioner will create an opening for an assembly seat in the 36th Legislative District.